Traffic sources report

The Traffic sources report shows the sites and YouTube features that viewers use to find your content. You can use it to get insight into the many ways viewers find videos. For example, you can see if viewers are getting to your content by searching directly on YouTube, using the "Suggested Videos" thumbnails, or following links from social networking websites like Twitter or Facebook.

How to use the Traffic sources report

Set date range: You can change the number of days you want the report to show using the drop-down menu or calendar in the top-right of the report (for example, the last 7 days or the last 90 days).

Deep dive on videos: Use the "Search for content" box at the top of the report to choose videos from your channel.

View sources by location: Use the "Search for locations" box at the top of the report to view sources by location. Click for suggested regions and countries.

Deep dive on sources: For some videos, you can click traffic sources listed in the report to get detailed data. For example, if you click the "YouTube search" traffic source, you'll be able to see the search terms viewers use to find your video.

Filter sources: Check or uncheck the boxes next to sources (like "Google Search" or "Playlists") to include or remove them from your multi-line or stacked area chart. This lets you to compare only the traffic sources you care about.

Filter viewers: Change whether the report shows all data or only data from subscribers or non-subscribers to your channel by using the "Subscribed & not subscribed" drop-down menu at the top of the report.

Learn how you can promote your videos in the places that drive the most watch time and engagement.

Understand your traffic sources

There are two main groups of traffic sources: watch time and views from 1) sources within YouTube, or 2) external sources. You can see both in the Traffic sources report, ordered by watch time by default.

Traffic from sources within YouTube

This is watch time and views on desktop, YouTube mobile apps, and other features within YouTube. Here are the top traffic sources within YouTube (click to expand a description):

Traffic from within YouTube that doesn't fall in any other category, such as views from Partner promotions, or the dashboard.

Traffic from sources outside of YouTube

This is watch time and views resulting from links outside of YouTube, such as Google search, Facebook, and other websites. Here are the top traffic sources for sources outside of YouTube (click to expand a description):

June 2015 updates

External sources: All external traffic sources are now merged in the "External" category. This includes the former top-level sources External apps, Unknown – embedded player, and External website. External apps and embedding URLs are shown by name.

Notifications: New top-level source that includes both desktop and phone/tablet notifications for subscribers.

YouTube guide: Renamed to "Browse features." Now includes traffic from the YouTube Kids app. "Liked videos" and "Favorite videos" are included in Playlists. Subscription update email is now included in the new top-level source Notifications.

Unknown – direct: Renamed to "Direct or unknown."

YouTube – other features: Renamed to "Other YouTube features." Notification is now included in the top-level source "Notifications."

YouTube playlists: Renamed to "Playlists." Now includes "Liked videos" and "Favorite videos."

Unknown – direct: Mobile views can be categorized better and are included in the respective top-level category. Therefore this category is showing less views.

Unknown subcategories: Views are classified as "unknown" if we don’t receive all details from certain browsers or players. An example is YouTube suggested video > Unknown. This means we can classify the top-level traffic source as suggested video traffic, but we cannot attribute the view to a specific video.

As the classification improves, views in the respective unknown categories are decreasing and views for specific videos are increasing.